Child, Family, or School Social Worker
Salary

Child, Family, or School Social Workers in the United States are not likely to strike it rich; they only make around $41K annually on average. Residence is the biggest factor affecting pay for this group, followed by tenure. Medical benefits are awarded to most, and more than half earn dental coverage. Most workers in this position report high levels of job satisfaction. The vast majority of Child, Family, or School Social Workers (87 percent) who responded to the survey are women. The data for this snapshot was collected from individuals who took PayScale's salary survey.

XTotal Pay combines base annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, overtime pay and other forms of cash earnings, as applicable for this job. It does not include equity (stock) compensation, cash value of retirement benefits, or the value of other non-cash benefits (e.g. healthcare).

XTotal Pay combines base annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, overtime pay and other forms of cash earnings, as applicable for this job. It does not include equity (stock) compensation, cash value of retirement benefits, or the value of other non-cash benefits (e.g. healthcare).

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Job Description for Child, Family, or School Social Worker

Child, family, or school social workers help support children who may be at risk due to circumstances at home, school, or other environments. As advocates for the children, the social worker acts as a liaison between various institutions, families, and the child. Typically, the social worker either identifies an at-risk child or is called in by some authority that has made this determination. The social worker works with the family to help create the best environment for the child, while assessing all health and psychological risks. Social workers in a school environment are typically charged with determining which students may be at risk and work with other teachers and counselors to aid the student and administer testing to help fully diagnose the extent of the student's needs.

Social workers also help place children with foster families and group homes. They work directly with these families to help ensure the safest possible environment for the children. Social workers also help to facilitate adoptions by performing various home environment assessments and background interviews. Social workers spend time in an office environment and in the field, typically during regular office hours; however, in emergencies, there may be weekend and off-hour responsibilities as well.

Child, family, or school social workers typically have at least an bachelor's degree in psychology or a related counseling discipline. Counselors are also typically required to be certified by state and local jurisdictions as well. To work in this field, individuals must be an excellent communicator and have an aptitude to work well with children and youth who may be in unstable living environments.

Child, Family, or School Social Worker Tasks

Work with parents, teachers, community organizations, internal partners, etc. on behalf of clients.

Common Career Paths for Child, Family, or School Social Worker

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Child, Family, or School Social Workers who go on to become Non-Profit Executive Directors may see their salaries climb quite a bit. Median pay for Non-Profit Executive Directors is $60K annually. Child, Family, or School Social Workers most often move into positions as MSW Social Workers or Licensed Clinical Social Workers; those groups report median salaries that are $3K higher and $13K higher, respectively.

Child, Family, or School Social Worker Job Listings

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Pay by Experience Level for Child, Family, or School Social Worker

Median of all compensation (including tips, bonus, and overtime) by years of experience.

For Child, Family, or School Social Workers, experience does not seem to be a major factor in determining pay. The average inexperienced worker earns $37K, and someone who has worked for five to 10 years can expect a bigger median salary of $40K. Child, Family, or School Social Workers with one to two decades of relevant experience report an average salary of approximately $41K. In the end, the overall pattern seems to be that more experience generally corresponds to higher pay; a Social Worker with more than 20 years of experience can earn $45K on average.

Child, Family, or School Social Worker Advice

What do you wish you knew about your job when you first started out?

Child, Family, or School Social Worker in Phoenix:

"How much time you spend driving."

Be patient, let clients tell their story. Don't judge. Be there for them.